Newman swims two meet-record times as Dow wins sixth straight Tri-Cities swim title

Updated 8:35 am, Sunday, September 25, 2016

THEOPHIL SYSLO | For the Daily News Dow High School junior Sarah Saead and freshman Claire Newman embrace after competing in the 50 yard freestyle during the 2016 girls swimming and diving Tri-City Championships at Saginaw Valley State University on Saturday.

Newman swims two meet-record times as Dow wins sixth straight Tri-Cities swim title

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UNIVERSITY CENTER — Two first-place finishes by freshman Claire Newman in the 50-yard freestyle (24.35) and 100-yard freestyle (52.44), and a whole lot of scoring depth in the other 10 events, carried Dow High to its sixth consecutive Tri-Cities Swimming and Diving championship on Saturday at Saginaw Valley State University.

Both winning times for Newman, the meet’s most valuable swimmer, were also Division 2 state-qualifying times and helped the Chargers beat runner-up Saginaw Heritage by nearly 200 points, 647-459. Bay City John Glenn finished third with a 377, while Bay City Western was fourth at 315, Midland High was fifth with a 299, Bay City Central was sixth with an 82, and Essexville Garber scored 71 points to finish seventh.

More on the meet

Newman’s wins tied Tammy Spatz’s 20-year old meet record for the 50 free, and broke current Dow assistant coach Summer Strickler’s meet record in the 100 free that was set in 2009.

“She chased down both records that she barely missed on Thursday,” said first-year Dow coach Chilly Smith of Newman. “That shows you she’s got that competitive drive that an athlete needs.”

Dow added several second-place finishes: Chelsea Fenton (5:24.72) with a D2 state-qualifying time in the 500 freestyle, Hannah Jacobs (1:03.66) in the 100 backstroke, and all three relays.

The Chargers’ team of Jacobs, Abby Huffman, Maggie Duly and Emily Schultheis swam the 200 medley relay in 1:57.61, while Dow had Newman, Sarah Saead, Schultheis and Fenton complete the 200 freestyle relay in a state-qualifying time of 1:42.55, and Saead, Newman, Jacobs and Sasha Konovalenko scored a state-qualifying time of 3:42.60 in the 400 freestyle relay.

Third-place finishers for Dow were Fenton (2:02.91) in the 200 freestyle, Konovalenko in the 200 individual medley (2:19.79) and the 100 backstroke (1:04.97), Katie White (1:04.45) in the 100 butterfly, and Huffman in the 500 freestyle (5:27.15) and 100 breaststroke (1:12.83). Dow was also third in the 200 free relay, with its ‘B’ team of Lauren McLean, Kaley Niederstadt, Duly and White finishing in 1:47.39.

Saead turned in a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 50 freestyle (25.20) and 100 (55.93) freestyle for Dow, with her time in the 50 free qualifying her for the Division 2 finals, while Niederstadt was fifth in both the 50 free (26.48) and 100 breast (1:16.15), Jacobs was fifth in the 100 free (56.29), and Brandstadt (5:38.50) was fifth in the 500 free.

Additionally, the Chargers finished fifth in the 400 free relay, where their ‘B’ team of Sarah Brandstadt, Fenton, McLean and Huffman swam the event in 3:59.71, and fifth in the 200 medley relay with their ‘B’ team of Konovalenko, Britney Bawar, White and Niederstadt clocking a 2:00.78.

Brandstadt (2:07.15) was sixth in the 200 free for Dow, while White (2:26.06) was sixth in the 200 IM, and Schultheis (26.57) was sixth in the 50 free.

Taking seventh place for Dow were Charlee Simanskey in the 200 (2:07.26) and 500 (5:50.67) freestyles, Duly (1:06.03) in the 100 fly, and Schultheis (59.39) in the 100 free, while the Chargers’ eighth-place finishers included Duly (2:32.22) in the 200 IM, Riley Davis (237.95) in diving, McLean (1:06.34) in the 100 fly, and Mackayla Pirie (6:01.78) in the 500 free.

“We had 26 swims in the top eight, 15 more in the consolation finals (places 9-16), and 12 in the bonus round (places 17-24),” said Smith.

“We were over 90 percent for season-best times on Thursday (for the preliminaries), and we were at about 60 percent for the finals, which is outstanding,” he added. “These girls swam really fast on Thursday, and came back even faster in more than 50 percent of their races on Saturday.”

Placing second to lead Midland was Sarah Wing (382.75) in diving, while Delaney Randall was fourth in both the 100 fly (1:04.80) and 500 free (5:37.97), and Alexis Leigeb (1:15.86) was fourth in the 100 breast. The Chemics’ 200 medley relay group of Emily Kreusch, Leigeb, Randall, and Courtney Keyser were fourth in 2:00.23, while their 200 free relay group of Katie Berchert, Kreusch, Keyser and Leigeb were also fourth in 1:48.61.

Randall swam four of the team’s seven MISCA state cuts that were achieved during the prelims, said Midland coach Buffy Hall.

“She didn’t even qualify in the top eight last year, yet was fourth in both of her individual races this year,” said Hall of Randall.

Hall added that she was happy with the effort of each of her swimmers.

“We had more kids qualified for the finals this year than last year, with 20 kids swimming today,” she said. “We also had a lot of freshmen swim in the bonus heats that are the future of our team, especially with 14 seniors graduating (next June).”

Berchert (2:25.32) was fifth in the 200 IM for Midland, while the Chemics got a sixth-place finish from Taylor Harvey (264.95) in diving, as well as a sixth place from Berchert (58.93) in the 100 free, and a sixth place for Kreusch (1:06.95) in the 100 back.

Midland came in sixth in the 400 free relay, with Randall, Natalie Halphen, Keyser and Berchert finishing in 4:01.11.

Western was led by Riley Owczarzak’s second place in the 100 breast (1:12.70), and her fourth-place finish in the 200 IM (2:23.23). She also swam a leg on the Warriors’ fourth-place 400 free relay team (3:57.82) that included Hannah Lytle, Jaydee Dillon and Grace Lance.

Earning fifth-place finishes for BCW were Lance (2:06.99) in the 200 free and Dillon (1:06.10) in the 100 back, while Lance (5:44.29) was also sixth in the 500 free, Allison Kalinowski (1:17.28) was sixth in the 100 breast, and the Warriors added sixth places in both the 200 medley relay (2:01.00) and 200 free relay (1:52.83) .

In seventh place for Western were Lytle (26.71) in the 50 free, and its ‘B’ team of Samantha Rozek, Lexee Olson, Lauren McFarland, and Hilderbrand (4:16.01) in the 400 free relay.

Rounding out the Warriors’ top-eight finishers were Lytle (1:10.10) in the 100 back, Dillon (2:10.06) in the 200 free, and their ‘B’ team of McFarland, Kalinowski, Witucki and Emily Zagata (2:09.42) in the 200 medley relay.

Editor’s note: The number of Dow’s consecutive Tri-Cities swim titles was incorrect in the headline and the story on page D1 of Thursday’s Daily News. The Daily News was given incorrect information.